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In an age of organ transplantation, identifying the moment of death may now involve another life. It thereby takes on supreme legal importance. It is largely due to the need for transplant organs that death has been so precisely defined.
The official signs of death include the following:
- no pupil reaction to light
- no response of the eyes to caloric (warm or cold) stimulation
- no jaw reflex (the jaw will react like the knee if hit with a reflex hammer)
- no gag reflex (touching the back of the throat induces vomiting)
- no response to pain
- no breathing
- a body temperature above 86°F (30°C), which eliminates the possibility of resuscitation following cold-water drowning
- no other cause for the above, such as a head injury
- no drugs present in the body that could cause apparent death
- all of the above for 12 hours
- all of the above for six hours and a flat-line electroencephalogram (brain wave study)
- no blood circulating to the brain, as demonstrated by angiography
Current ability to resuscitate people who have "died" has produced some remarkable stories. Drowning in cold water (under 50°F/10°C) so effectively slows metabolism that some persons have been revived after a half hour under water.
— L. Fleming Fallon, Jr., MD, DrPH
